Enigma
by TheUltimateSnowman
Summary: A puzzle has struck the streets of Gotham, and a wrong answer has a severe price. As the Batman fights to defend his city, he must ask himself the question: Who is Mr E, and what do three scientists, a soldier, a billionaire, the woman named Waller, and the hacker named Dick have to do with it?
1. The Conversation

_Darkest Night_

_Chapter 1_

"_The Conversation__"_

**Arkham Asylum**

"Well, it's been a long three months, but we finally know who you are." announced Commissioner Jim Gordon, as he entered the interrogation room, placing a file on the table.

"And who might that be?" asked the man sitting opposite him, covered by the shadows.

"Your name is Jack Napier. Y'know, your mind is a lot less normal than everyone else's. No-one else would have thought to kill their family that way"

"Thank you. At least somebody appreciates my imagination. My family never did. That's why I killed them Hahahahaha! Although" said the shadowed man, "Where did you get your information?"

"Even you can't change your DNA, Jack. Our do you want me to keep calling you Joker?"

The Shadowed man revealed himself to be wearing a purple suit, and white makeup on his face, with bright red lips and green hair.

"Joker would be nice, yes. I'd ask you for a phone call, but you learn too fast. That's the problem with you, you're too fast. You should think about slowing down."

"I recognise that expression. Put this guy in deep solitary before he can do anything. NOW!"

The two guards in the room grabbed the Joker and escorted him from the room.

"Watch your back, Gordon, watch your back. "


	2. Reptillian

_**BATMAN: ENIGMA**_

_Chapter 2_

"_**Reptilian"**_

**Arkham Asylum, Six Months Ago**

Jonathan Crane hated this place. He had hated it even when he ran the place. But at least he didn't need to worry about the Batman hunting him down, if rumors were true. Despite his assured safety, Crane felt as though every day was getting duller and duller. So you can imagine his surprise when he finally had a visitor. The man entered, wearing a green suit.

"Hello, Jon." Said he.

"It's been quite some time, E." Crane marveled. "Have you come to tell me that you 'no longer have use for me'?"

"Should that surprise you?"

"Not at all."

"Good. I have a question for you, Jon." He stated, pulling his phone from his pocket. "I am plant but not tree. I am flora but not flower. Surely you can figure this out. I am green but not grass. I…"

Crane smirked. "…Am bush. Ambush."

"Excellent." The green suited man pushed a button on his phone, blowing up the wall behind Crane. The floor collapsed too, sending Crane down into his old laboratory. Thugs surrounded him, wielding bats and crowbars. Jonathan looked to the see the hologram disappear. It would be the last thing he saw.

**Last Month. The Caverns beneath Wayne Manor.**

The Bat-Pod burst through the waterfall at high speed, narrowly missing the butler, who was carrying a delightful breakfast.

"I don't suppose I could interest you in having something to eat for once?" Alfred Pennyworth asked his employer.

"Not today, Alfred. Something has been tearing people apart in the narrows."

"Then why did you come back here?"

"Bathroom."

"Ah."

* * *

><p>Two children played on a small street in the narrows. One of wearing a blanket as a cape, the other in a purple jacket. A black blur gushed passed them, and they smiled realizing who it was. The Batman sped through the dirty streets, searching for a trace. He screeched to a halt outside what was enthusiastically called a library. He entered and wandered past the few books. He turned as something moved behind him, only to leap at him from the side. The crocodile-man bared its horrible gnashing teeth, and roared, spitting all over the dark knights' face. Batman rolled him off. The Killer Croc roared again. It stopped suddenly, as it heard a beep. There was another beep, and more came periodically. He looked down to see the small device on his jacket before it exploded.<p>

"Good to know that those work" Batman mumbled to himself, as he grabbed some batarangs from his belt. Just in case…

A huge reptilian fist punctured the cloud and sent Batman flying backwards. The other fist knocked him through the ground and into the sewers. He landed on a brick platform. Killer Croc landed in the sewer water, and howled in pain. His scaly skin charred and burned in the oddly green water. Batman kicked him back into the ledge, tripping it. Before the monster could get up, Batman put a bomb in its mouth and stabbed several batarangs into its chest. The Killer Croc roared at Batman, and the bomb went off in its throat, taking it out.

* * *

><p>Back at the Bat-cave, Bruce examined the Killer Croc and ran him through some computers. Alfred entered with some tea.<p>

"Any luck identifying him sir?"

"His name's Waylon Jones. Used to work for Falcone. Spent two months in Arkham Asylum. Escaped with Scarecrow back when Ra's tried to drive the city insane. From the looks of things, he was turned into a reptilian monster by one of Cranes' experiments."

"So no criminal conspiracy today sir?"

"Nope."

Alfred turned on the TV.

"What about this?"

Bruce turned and saw, on the TV, a completely black screen with a green question mark in the centre.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Gotham." A voice came from the TV. "I am Mr E. I have a little challenge for you. Those who complete this challenge will be allowed to remain in this city. The losers; well, they won't be quite so lucky. Shall we begin?"


	3. Questions

_**BATMAN: ENIGMA**_

_Chapter 3_

"_**Questions"**_

"Now, a challenge. " The altered voice spoke. It was everywhere. TV's, phones, tablets. If it had a screen, Mr E was on it. "For Commissioner James Gordon. There are fifty-two people in Gotham whose bank accounts contain more than one billion dollars. And people say this city is poor. Forty of those people are in the same room. They will all die unless you can give me a straight answer. In five minutes, you receive your challenge."

Gordon sat in his office, slightly panicked by yet another genocidal nut-case in his city.

"Where are those people?" he asked Detective Montoya (standing to his left)

"I'll get one of the analysts on it." She replied, and left the room. Gordon's screen once again appeared completely black, but with a different symbol in the centre.

"Cameron Von Cleer's place in The Diamond District." A young voice came from the device, "119, Autre Street."

"Where do these guys keep coming from?" Gordon asked himself, before sending Flass to check it out.

Bruce Wayne was befuddled. His un-hack-able technology had just been hacked twice in the last five minutes. Once by what appeared to be a terrorist issuing a threat with a green question mark, and the other by what sounded like a thirteen year-old wielding a yellow "R" as his avatar and giving Batman a lead. At least it was a starting point. Unfortunately, the Diamond District was at the very top end of North Gotham, whereas Wayne Manor was at the base of Gotham South. It would take ten minutes to get there. Mr E had just ended his five.

"Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love," He said through every speaker in Gotham. "Yet they are both found dead in a room locked from the inside, no windows. A cat circles their bodies. Broken glass litters the floor, and they lie in a wide sheet of water. Who killed them?"

Lt Flass entered Van Cleer's mansion with two officers.

"Well, "Said E, impatiently. "I'm waiting."

Batman sped over the South-Central Bridge.

"Five…"

Gordon wracked his brains, eluded by the answer.

"4…"

Batman checked all frequencies. No idea where the hacker was, and no more help from the kid.

"3…"

Flass began to evacuate every in the building. The doors locked down.

"2…"

Both Batman and Gordon had no ideas.

"1…"

The hearts of all involved sank.

"The cat did it. Romeo and Juliet are fish." A plethora of explosives detonated in the fifty foot aquarium in Van Cleer's basement, collapsing the building in on itself. Half of the people inside were killed by the explosion, while the rest were crushed or drowned. No survivors.

* * *

><p>Later that night, once most of the bodies had been cleared and the police were busy keeping the press clear of the potentially dangerous area, the world's greatest detective arrived. He had already determined that the explosive was in the aquarium in the basement. Luckily, most of the room was intact, littered with the aquariums content and fragments of the room above. Batman looked around for fingerprints. He had already searched the entire guest list for anyone with a criminal record, or anyone with similar attempts on their lives before. He continued to search for a clue, for some sign of anything. But there was nothing. Then he put his hand on one of the surviving support poles. Sticky. He pulled his hand away and saw it was covered in a translucent ink. The dark knight pulled out a small pair of goggles and aligned some filters until he could properly see the slime in his hand. It was green. He looked at the support structure. The paint covered a section in the middle. The same paint was on another pole, and the wall. He moved around the room until the paint lined up. A capital D.<p>

"You find anything in this mess?" Commissioner asked, entering the room. He turned to try and see whatever Batman was looking at. Batman turned to him.

"Some kind of code. Hopefully part of a larger puzzle." He replied.

"You're less… gravelly than usual." Gordon said, before turning to find himself alone. He looked around, and found a small pair of binoculars on the ground. He picked them up, looked through them at the wall, and finally, the GCPD was on the same page as Batman.

* * *

><p>"Do you know why I kill, doctor?" The madman asked his victim, bound in a warehouse full of movie props on the docks.<p>

"Victor," She begged, "Just go back to the asylum. I can help you."

"You cannot help me, Sarah." He replied, his eerie voice sending shivers down her spine, "I don't need to be helped. I am fine. If anything, it's you that needs help." He turned his glistening blade towards himself. "I'm here to liberate you."

"Victor, please. Just let me go." He stepped closer, his knife edging towards his abdomen.

"You are afflicted with a horrendous disease. I call it life." He drew blood from just above his waist, adding another scar to the hundreds of self-inflicted tally marks all over his body. He gasped in excitement. "Far more satisfying than a tattoo." He muttered to himself. "Why don't you try it?"

Victor Zsasz pushed the now bloodied knife into her throat, not enough not to draw blood, but enough to hurt like hell.

"Helpless little piggy number 184," he said, pleased with his accomplishments, "You are free."

A split second before Dr Cassidy's blood was strewn across the room, Zsasz was kicked to the floor, dropping his knife in the process. Victor looked around, but the interloper was gone.

"Where are you?" he sang out into the darkness. Something moved in the shadows on the left. Then to the right. Then on the left again.

"Two marks tonight," He laughed, "Two by two, I'll save you."

He jumped out to the shadows on the left.

"Four by four, spill your blood on the floor."

Something shifted behind him.

"Six by six, snap your bones like sticks."

He tackled his attacker to the floor.

"Eight by eight,-"

"Oh, will you please shut up?" a young voice came from behind him. Victor looked at the body he had just tackled. A dressmakers dummy taken from one of the shelves. Then he looked back at the invader, who kicked him squarely in the jaw. When he woke up, he was hanging from the lamp-post outside. In the corner of his eye, a young man in a red hoodie, fingerless gloves and green everything-else was running across the rooftops, vanishing just as Victor yelled at him.

"I made the mark! The score is offset! I made the mark!"


End file.
